Canada, Ottawa, plaintiffs agree to settle ‘Indian boarding homes’ class action

Ottawa, Jan 4 (IANS) The Canadian government and lawyers for survivors have reached an agreement-in-principle to settle a class-action lawsuit over the operation of boarding homes for Indigenous students attending public schools between 1951 and 1992.

Over the past four years, the government and counsel for the plaintiffs tried to resolve this litigation for thousands of Indigenous people who suffered cultural loss and abuse while residing in a boarding home placement for the purpose of attending school from September 1, 1951, to June 30, 1992, reports Xinhua news agency.

“I was taken from my family and community in 1968 when I was 13 years old. The impact on me, and on other kids like me, was devastating,” said Reginald Percival, court-appointed representative plaintiff.

I have spent decades since then, working to heal, to help others, and to explain to the broader community what happened. It has been a long journey but I am gratified by the steps we are now taking, as a country, to acknowledge past wrongs and to move forward together,” Percival added.

“I was in a boarding home after I was in Indian residential school. This has always been a missing part of the process. It is like a cut with a bandage, but half the cut is not covered, and that half is the boarding home experience. We never dealt with the whole experience,” said Kenneth Weistche, another court-appointed representative plaintiff for the Quebec sub-group, who was pleased that the agreement was reached.

The agreement-in-principle combined individual compensation for having been placed in a boarding home and compensation for incidents of physical and sexual or other abuse with forward-looking investments to support commemoration, healing, language and culture, said Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada in a press release.

According to the release, key elements of the agreement-in-principle included individual compensation of C$10,000 (C$8,000); compensation, ranging from C$10,000-200,000, for incidents of physical and sexual or other abuse while residing in a boarding home placement based on severity of the abuses suffered; and C$50 million will be invested to support the commemoration, healing, language, and culture.

The parties will continue to work together to reach a final settlement agreement in order to seek approval from the Federal Court of Canada and this process will unfold over the course of 2023, the release said.

–IANS

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